GOLF NOTES

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 299, 12 August 1932, Page 2

GOLF NOTES

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TO-MORROW'S GAMES MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS TO BE DECIDED LADIES' CLUB TITLES

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The final of the men's championship, for which 36 holes will be played, will be decided to-morrow on the Arikikapalcapa Course, when R. G. Smith will play S. E. Carr in the first division and W. Marshall will meet C. Gee in the second division. All four are at present playing good golf, and the finals to-morrow should be closely contested. On Saturday, a four-ball bogey | competition will be played in which J players will choose their own partnerj and times of play. Ladies' Championship A Grade Meeting Mrs. Parata in the ladies' championship final Miss Snodgrass won the title by 2 up and one after 1 a disappointing game in which both players found the green play difficult. The first two holes were halves, the third being won by Mrs. Parata after a fine drive onto the green. On the fourth, Mrs. Parata got into difficulties and the hole went to her opponent. At the tux*n Miss Snodgx'ass was two up and on the home journey she l-ecovered well from several badly placed shots and at the seventeenth was two up, thus winning the match. Stroke scores out were Miss Snodgrass 45, and Mx-s. Parata 50, and on the homeward journey 41 and 40 respectively. Mrs. Finn Wins B Grade The finalists in the B Grade charnnionship, Mrs. R. Copeland Smith and Mrs. Finn, had a tough stx'uggle, the latter fmishing 1 up at the eightteenth. Mrs. Smith gave herself a difficult task by losing the first four holes in the match, but made an extremely good recovery being only one down at the ninth. Mrs. Finn winning the toss, drove a good ball from the first tee, Mrs. Smith finding the bunker with her drive and failed to recover — this cost her the hole. The second, third and fourth holes went to Mrs. Finn, making the game 4 up in Mrs. Finn's favour. The fifth and sixth were halved and the seventh hole was won by Mrs. Smith in a nicely played 5. The eigh.h and ninth holes went to Mrs. Smith making the match 1 up to Mrs. Finn. In the second half the game was more even. The tenth was won by Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Finn finding trouble with her third shot and failing to recover. The next hole was halved in sixes, and Mx's. Finn won the twelfth in 6 to her opponent's 7. The following two holes were halved and the fifteenth hole squared the match to Mj s. Smith, Mrs. Finn pulling her ball down the crater. The seventeenth was a loss to Mrs. Smith who pulled her drive badly. This placed Mrs. Finn 1 up. The last two holes were halved Mrs. Finn thus winixing the B championship, 1 up. Level of Putting. On the first teeing ground of any profossional golf tournament you will see drive after drive fly far and straight down the fairway. Yet, if you go to a fairly difficult puttipg green, with a few slopes and rolls in it, you will see some very ineffective attempts to get the ball into the hole. The first open tournament, in England, at Roehampton, disclosed that although the professionals ara rated at plus four, or even more, the average level of putting comes down to four or five handicap. Why this should be so with English professionals is a mystery. They will tell you that they aua bad putters; and they seem unable to find a remedy for these lapses on the green. "We know pmfectly well that Bobby Jones or Walter Hagen or Horton Smith is no better at any of the driving strokes than our prpfessionals. Yet these three have won championships because their putting has been better than an average pf two putts per gr*een throughout the whole championship meeting, including the qualifying rounds. . Mateh-winning Shot. The late Willie Park, himself a wondxrful putter, declared th'at the man who can putt is a match for anybody, and it is a fact that at the height of their careers, James Braid, ' Hairy Vardon J. H. Taylor and Sandy j Herd were splendid putters. To some of them that difficult part of the game was perhaps a natural gift, but in the cases of James Braid he had to practise hard. Ha found a bumpy green for his practice, over which he had to strike the ball smoothly and unhurriedly, otherwise the bumps on the green defiectied the ball off the line. A Strenuous Game. Few men in golf appear to be stronger or mone sturdy than th'e swarthy Italian-American, Gene Sarazen, who has the build and stamina usually associated with abnormally strong men of the wrestling gaxne. But when Gene finished his 72 holes of the Am'erican open with 286, and added the U.S. national title to the British championship, he was "all in." As he was led to the locked room he went perilously close to fainting. The strain of that long trek of 20 miles, which wetted him rounds of 74 — 76 — 70 — 66, must have been terrific. Irishman for Walker Cup. J. Burke (Lahinch), a nominee for this year's British Walker Cup teapi, won the Irish Native Amateur Championship on the Royal Portrush Clpb course. He heat M. Crowley (Portmarnock), one of the last eight in the recent British' Amateur Championship, in the 36-holes final by 6 and 5. Burlce thus aciiieved a "hat-trick," as he won the title in 193Q and 1931.